


Pastels

by shobogan



Category: X-Men (Movies), X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Gen, Humor, Teaching, X2: X-Men United (2003), Xavier Institute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-29
Updated: 2014-06-29
Packaged: 2018-02-06 19:01:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1868907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shobogan/pseuds/shobogan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Logan does indeed become an art teacher.</p><p>Shut up, Summers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pastels

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr user harshcutiezoos wondered what would happen if Logan really WAS an art teacher and then this happened.
> 
> This is set...vaguely around X2. IDK, assume this is an AU where Jean doesn't die for no reason. 
> 
> The rating is purely for Logan's mouth.

He really wants to punch Chuck for this, but he’s pretty sure Jean would make him think he’s a chipmunk for a month. 

"It’ll be good for you! We all know you whittle."

"That ain’t the same thing."

"Sure it is. It’s creation." Her voice is different, now; heavier, pointed. It’s the same kind of subtle metaphoric shit Charles does, and it’s annoying as fuck, and he can’t get angry at her.

So he sighs and grumbles and starts collecting supplies.

 

He’s teaching a class of about thirty. He figures only about a quarter are actually interested in art - the rest are here for the spectacle. 

He considered some kind of opening monologue, before quickly decided it was pointless and irritating. So he just points at the crisp stack of paper adorning each other their desks.

"Draw something. Anything you want, I don’t give a - hoot." He’s trying, all right?

At least they all know better than to snicker. One girl who looks vaguely like a bird is brave enough to raise a hand. 

"Yeah?"

"Um, Mr. Wolverine, I don’t know how."

"That’s why you’re here, right? Just scribble something so I know what I’m dealing with."

She shakes her hands, and raises hands that look more like talons.

He curses a bit on the inside, but he doesn’t stare, barely skips a beat.

"You can start with painting."

 

Some of the kids are decent - they know shit like proportions and perspective, or they’ve just got a good eye. Most of them are horrible. There’s not, at least, a dearth of imagination. That would just be sad, considering.

He starts them on projects they’d be interested in, gruffly adjusting their techniques. As the days pass, they get more relaxed. He doesn’t, mostly because he doesn’t know how.

But he can’t deny that he’s enjoying himself. (Well, he can deny it out loud, but not sincerely, and damn if Jean can't tell the difference. He's pretty sure Ororo can, too.) He likes seeing the way Edna - the bird girl - learns to work the brushes and the colours. He likes helping Amara sketch out more complex architecture. He likes seeing Paras experiment with pastels, and Sarah twist wires into action scenes, and Dani shape clay into heroes.

He likes knowing these kids aren’t scared of him.

 

"Not bad, Piotr." It’s fucking excellent, is what it is, but the kids know what he means by now. Piotr smiles up at him, a bit shyly. He’s just finished a charcoal illustration of the X-Men in battle. When he started, his art was beautiful but static; now, it flows right off the page. 

"You can finish that portrait of Kitty if you want." Logan smirks to himself, just a little, as he leaves Piotr blushing. He politely doesn't mention the eyes Kitty has been making at his younger sister.

 

No one has teased him about it, not even Summers, which he figures is Jean’s doing. So he can put up with her looking smug in his general direction from time to time.

He’s wary, when Nightcrawler - Kurt - approaches him. Guy’s always been nice, but they’re a bit too similar and a bit too different for him to be comfortable.

But Kurt’s smile, kind but hesitant, seems genuine enough.

"Herr Wolverine - "

"It’s just Logan, bub."

Nightcrawler hesitates, but then he nods. “Logan. I know you have been working with the children, and I wondered…”

"Come out with it, I ain’t got all day."

"Da. I - when I was young, I worked with wood. Simple carvings. I thought, perhaps…"

Oh. Well.

That’s all right, then. 

 

Kurt isn’t the last adult to join in, to learn or to teach.

Warren stops by now and again for flying lessons, and gets in on collage-making.

Ororo, as it turns out, used to be a graffiti artist. He’s never seen her so calm, so happy, when she’s teaching the kids how to work a spray bottle. (“Only to be used with direct permission”, and she says it very firmly, but there’s a glint in her eyes.)

Jean can knit and sew and crochet, all that crap, and she’s happy to take on any kids who want to learn.

Even Scott joins in, and only smirks at Logan feigning a heart attack. (Turns out all that precision he uses for firing makes him great at working out angles. Logan catches him working with Rusty, too, helping him control the flames to make something beautiful.)

It’s peaceful, for the most part. There’s bickering - it’s teenagers, and it’s X-Men - but nothing serious. It’s downright communal.

Jean always talks about the X-Men as a family. He's starting to believe her. 

 

One day, Charles catching him just standing back and staring. They’re set out on the grounds, today - it’s more of a picnic than a lesson, really. Everyone is having fun ( _even Scott_ ). He doesn’t feel apart from it, either; like he’s interloping, or pretending. Just for a while, everyone is happy.

Charles notices him standing back, just staring, and obviously he knows what’s up because he’s a nosy old bastard. He grins up at him, and Logan just sighs.

"Yeah, fine, you were right."

"I often am."

Logan snorts, crosses his arms, can’t quite hide a smirk. Charles smirks right back, before looking back at his students. His family.

"They really are getting on splendidly, aren’t they?"

"Yeah. Next thing we’ll have Magneto joining in."

"He actually is quite a good artist."

He’s off before Logan can say _what the fuck_ , which is probably for the best.


End file.
